Mr Rudd's appointment sends a clear message to President Xi Jinping that while Australia welcomes the recent thaw in the relationship and wants to talk about trade sanctions, human rights and the fate of detained citizens, America remains our most important and valued friend and ally.

By sending a former prime minister to represent Australia's interests in Washington Mr Albanese and Ms Wong have made it clear they want somebody in Washington who has both high level name recognition and sufficient clout to ring senior politicians and diplomats here and in the US and to get them on the phone.

While Arthur Sinodinos, the outgoing ambassador, has by all accounts done a worthy job the reality is he would not have the connections within the Biden administration Mr Rudd will enjoy.

Mr Rudd's service as both prime minister and foreign minister coincided with the Obama years during which President Biden was the US vice president.

As the first former prime minister to be sent to Washington, Mr Rudd's appointment is comparable to the decision by Joe Lyons to send Stanley Bruce to London as the Australian High Commissioner in 1933. Like Mr Rudd, Mr Bruce's appointment came a time of rising international tensions and the emergence of dictatorships in Germany, Italy and Japan. The former PM held the job until the end of World War II.

While it is to be sincerely hoped history does not repeat, and the world avoids a descent into the abyss, there is a lot to be said for having a man of Mr Rudd's proven knowledge and ability in this role at this time.

As one of the foremost global experts on relations between the US and China, and a fluent speaker of mandarin, it seems quite probable that American officials will be keen to make use of his expertise as that country continues its Pacific pivot.

Another positive about Mr Rudd's elevation is that it is not likely to cause waves in Beijing. Relations between China and Australia were positive during his time as both prime minister and foreign minister and he has been quite critical of the hawkish rhetoric used by Mr Morrison and Mr Dutton in the past.

While some concern has been expressed, given Mr Rudd's history, that he might "freelance" on Australian foreign policy in his new role, and that the appointment is "high risk and high reward" as a result, that seems unlikely.

Senator Wong has proved herself to be a very capable and determined Foreign Minister who has a history of knowing her own mind and making her views clearly known. The more likely outcome is that the ambassador and the foreign minister, who have known each other and worked together for a very long time, will take each other's counsel and act accordingly.

Senator Wong, meanwhile, is very keen to manage expectations about her forthcoming meeting with her Chinese counterpart this week.

"We will co-operate where we can and disagree where we must," she said. "Many of the hard issues [with China] will take time to resolve. My expectation is that there will be a meeting and we will have dialogue."

As Lao Tzu said in the Dao De Jing: "the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step".